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Townsend conservation member faces hearing

Townsend selectmen, from left, Cindy King, Chairwoman Carolyn Smart and Gordon Clark, debate how to proceed with a complaint against a Conservation Commission member during Tuesday s meeting.

TOWNSEND -- Selectmen voted Tuesday night to hold a public hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to remove a member of the Conservation Commission who is accused of improperly stopping two minors riding ATVs on local land.

A date for the public hearing was not determined at the meeting Tuesday, but Town Administrator James Kreidler said he will notify the commissioner, Jennifer Pettit.

"This will give Jennifer and others a chance to testify," Selectmen Chairwoman Carolyn Smart said. "Then we will see if there is enough to remove her from the board.

"This does not mean she is getting removed," she added.

Pettit was not present at the meeting Tuesday. The meeting was strictly for the board to deliberate, not for Pettit or the public to comment.

Selectmen received a complaint from resident Dawn Dunbar, who said Pettit "identified herself as the conservation agent, had detained her two minor children and had taken their photographs" on May 7, according to town counsel's report to the selectmen.

The parties involved had an opportunity to present their facts and arguments to the board at hearings on June 7 and July 26. Town counsel then reported back to the selectmen with a document containing a procedural history and a summary of presentations by the parties. Kreidler called it a "distillation of all the evidence."

According to Massachusetts Environmental Police Sgt.

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Mark Brighenti, Pettit called him, identified herself as the town's conservation agent, and told him she had been involved in an incident in which she had stopped two minors, and had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the selectmen.

At one of the earlier hearings, Pettit said Brighenti was incorrect in that she never identified herself as the conservation agent and did not say she had been cleared by the board, according to a written statement she read into the record.

She also said Townsend police Officer James Landi "had cleared her of any wrongdoing."

Police Chief Robert Eaton said there were concerns with Pettit "detaining youths on their ATVs without legal authority" because it could expose the town to civil liabilities," according to town counsel's findings.

Brighenti said he advised Pettit to contact local or environmental police when an issue like the one she encountered occurs.

On Tuesday, selectmen deliberated over town counsel's report and findings before answering six questions:

* Did Pettit stop and detain the minors?

* Did she identify herself as the conservation agent to the minors?

* Did she photograph the minors?

* Did she falsely assert to Brighenti that she had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Board of Selectmen?

* Did she identify herself as the conservation agent to Brighenti?

* Did she repeatedly fail to recognize her limitations in regards to stopping alleged violators of the prohibition on off-road vehicles?

Selectmen then used the discussions of those six questions to either: dismiss the complaint for lack of evidence; censure Pettit based upon demonstrated conduct; or convene a hearing to consider removing Pettit from the Conservation Commission.

The board voted 2-1 in favor of convening for a later hearing, with Selectman Cindy King in opposition.

"I am not comfortable moving to a public hearing to possibly remove Pettit," King said.

She said she was not comfortable because there were "gray areas" when the board was answering the six questions. Both Smart and King could not confidently say Pettit identified herself to the minors as the "conservation agent," saying she may have identified herself as an "agent of the conservation."

King and Smart also said Pettit wasn't intentionally being dishonest when she told Brighenti she had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the board because Pettit was under the assumption, from a local police officer, that she had been cleared. Smart said that could have been at the root of the confusion.

King also said this is the first complaint about Pettit during her tenure on the commission.

"I've known Jennifer Pettit for 30 years," Carolyn Sellars wrote in a letter to the selectmen before Tuesday's meeting. "While some people may disagree with her on some issues, I do not know anyone who would question Jennifer's honesty and integrity. She is the type of volunteer who has helped to make Townsend a wonderful place to live."

Selectman Gordon Clark, who answered "yes" to all six questions, said convening for a hearing leaves selectmen "more options." He said it's hard to discount testimony from Brighenti, "a sworn, ranking, law-enforcement officer."

Smart said she voted for the public hearing because it will allow for more conversation before a decision is reached.

Smart also said a hearing will give Pettit another chance to talk about the incident, but also to talk about the good she has done for the commission and the town.

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